Dark Abyss by Kaitlyn O'Connor (classic novels for teens .txt) 📕

“That sucks—not that there was any certainty that we could’ve gotten him to testify,” Joshua muttered.

“Yeah,” Simon agreed grimly. “I was hoping the son-of-a-bitch would pull through so I could break his god damned neck.”

Anna stared at him, wide-eyed at the vehemence in his voice and thoroughly confused by his attitude. “It’s … that makes it murder, though, at least. Right?”

“Maybe. If he can convince the jury that he just fired wildly because he thought they were under attack, his lawyers might get it down to manslaughter. In Cavendish’s world, that usually only amounts to a slap on the wrist. I ordered an autopsy. It seemed damned convenient, him croaking, when the doctor thought he was improving.”

“But that would definitely be pre-meditated murder!” Anna pointed out.

“Except we can’t put the ‘gun’ in his hand, so to speak. He’s still being held without bond. Unless we could find proof that he ordered it, we’ve got nothing.”

Anna shivered. “If he can arrange something like that from jail,” she said, feeling abruptly nauseated, “I’m never going to be safe.”

An uncomfortable silence fell. Caleb, Ian, and Joshua glared at Simon in tight-lipped anger for several moments. “He’d have to go through us to get to you,” Joshua said harshly.

Anna lifted her head and looked around at them. “But … I don’t want him to,” she said on the verge of a wail. “Is that supposed to make me feel better? Because it doesn’t! I don’t want anything to happen to any of you!”

Caleb covered her hand on the table, squeezing it with his.

“We’ve put together a reasonably solid case for the territorial Attorney General,” Simon said a little gruffly. “We’ll make it stick. And, regardless of his money or his power, he’ll find it damned hard to run his organization from Atlantis’ maximum security prison.”

Anna studied him hopefully and finally nodded, more reassured than she’d thought she would be, maybe even than she should have been. She couldn’t help but think it was the truth, though. Miles Cavendish wasn’t likely to have any friends among the Atlanteans and, after his attempt to blow up the territorial capital, the security would be much tighter, she knew. It wouldn’t be as easy for any of his men to infiltrate.

She wasn’t as certain she would be safe once she left, but, if he couldn’t communicate with the outside world, then he couldn’t send anybody after her. That didn’t mean she was entirely safe from retribution by some of his fanatical followers, but she doubted they would focus on her long without him to keep her in their sights.

“How goes our … other project?” Ian asked after a moment.

The four men glanced at her and then one another and Anna felt her spirits perk up at the suggestion of a secret that might involve her.

“The … uh … acquisition?” Joshua asked cautiously. “Or the other?”

Ian shrugged. “Either—both.”

“Some progress,” Caleb drawled, stretching and then getting up to carry his plate to the sink.

They weren’t going to discuss it around her, whatever ‘it’ was. Intrigued in spite of her best efforts to convince herself it might not have anything to do with her at all, Anna got up and followed him. It caused a general exodus from the table to the sink.

“I’ll do the dishes,” she volunteered, then added when all of them looked at her speculatively. “It’ll give me something to do.”

Shrugging, they left the kitchen. She thought they all had, anyway, until she felt a hand settle lightly on her elbow.

When she looked up, she saw that Ian was studying her. There was concern in his eyes that warmed her. “You alright, baby?”

She nodded, uncertain of whether he was referring to their interlude or the recent discussion.

His gaze moved over her face. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

Heat lit up her cheeks, but not all of it was discomfort. The question resurrected memories that made her warm all over. “I’m ….” She stopped, debated a moment, and discarded the trite ‘fine’. “Good, actually.”

Amusement danced in his eyes. He leaned closer. “Baby, you’re a lot better than good,” he murmured near her ear, lifting a rash of goosebumps.

She flicked a glance at him, struggling with the airy, inflated sensation his comment had produced, and the insane urge to giggle like a little girl. “You weren’t so bad, yourself,” she whispered back at him.

He chuckled huskily. “Now, I’m on my metal. I’ll have to see if I can’t wring a little more praise than that out of you.”

Oh! Promises, promises!

It was just as well he left it at that. Heat was wafting off of her in waves when he strode from the kitchen.

She forgot all about her intention to see if she could overhear the discussion between them when the men headed back into the living area. She was so focused on what he’d said to her and the happiness it had evoked that she’d finished washing everything before she hardly realized it. Leaving the dishes to dry in the rack, she debated whether to join them in the living room and finally decided against it.

She’d had trouble enough behaving before. She didn’t think she could sit down with them and not grin like an idiot every time Ian glanced at her.

She could read a while, she decided. Simon had loaned her his reader—the one she’d thrown at him. He had a surprisingly extensive library. She’d found plenty of books to interest her.

There was just no getting around it. The man had unsuspected depths.

She yearned to plumb those depths, but she was beginning to think that was a